Crop Manager Pelargonium

To Secure Flowers Production processes and ensure a reliable system is in place for sustainable performance from the employees and other assets to achieve Syngenta’s objective of delivering quality flower cuttings to our customers in the agreed specifications in time and right quantity.

Key Accountabilities

• Direct people responsibility: Oversee and guide direct reports, who include Supervisors and Team Organizers, providing leadership and strategic direction to ensure optimal team performance and goal achievement.
• Responsible for growing plants: Propagation, growing PS1, PS2 and PS mother stocks and eventual production of quality cuttings/ rooted materials using the best possible balance between cost and quality. Ensuring application of optimal plant growth regulators to tone the crop achieve the agreed cutting profile.
• Production excellence: Improve production methods to maximize yields/quality and drive innovation. This includes process mapping and development of tested best practice and innovative techniques.
• Plant nutrition: In collaboration with Fertigation team, ensure crops are well nourished and growing activities happen in optimal climatic conditions.
• Crop protection: In coordination with the Crop Protection Lead, Prepare and optimize weekly pest and disease control program and ensure effective implementation. IPM approach is crucial in this case.
• Phytosanitary and quality: In close coordination with the Phytosanitary Lead, ensure production processes attain and maintain high Phytosanitary standards. Ensure Phytosanitary protocols are up to date to assure crop sanity.
• Plant potential: Continuously evaluate plant growth requirements & yielding potential during production phase and translate this into data that can support reviews for sustainable production.
• Season Labor planning: In coordination with Operations Lead/HRM, review labor budget and request to hire seasonal labor based on production operations demand. Strict follow-up of the labor forecast and control on deviations to avoid any financial exposure and loss of cost control.
• People management: Cultivate a resilient, adaptable team built on trust. Prioritize the training and motivation of all your direct reports. Gain a thorough understanding of crucial operational factors, establish and oversee appropriate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and targets for your department. Manage these metrics to achieve optimal Quality, Output, Timeliness, Innovation, and Financial performance (QUOTIF), focusing on maximizing yield and quality while minimizing costs.
• Production research: Organization and successful execution of production and improvement trials.
• Process improvement: Support implementation of all process improvement initiatives in the production department
• Data Base Management: Manage production data related to crops and people
• Monthly reports: Prepare and send reports to Senior Production Manager as per set requirements.
• HSE: Support all HSE initiatives, ensuring their implementation in the production department.

Syngenta is a Global Agribusiness Company with its headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. We are a market leader in the breeding and production of Seeds and Cuttings for high-quality pot and bedding plants. In Kenya, we have two production Sites; Kenya Cuttings Limited based in Thika, and Pollen Limited based in Ruiru.

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

Minimum Qualifications and Experience

• The ideal candidate must possess the following qualifications and competencies:
• A Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture or Horticulture
• A master’s degree in agriculture/Horticulture or Business administration will be an added advantage
• 5 years’ experience as a senior grower, crop manager or as an agronomist
• Thorough knowledge of horticulture business production, end to end
• Ability to do departmental budgeting and follow up on the implementation of the same within the specified timelines
• Good interpersonal and communication skills.
• Must possess a proven track record of leading teams with good problem-solving skills

Critical Knowledge

• Agronomy, Horticulture, hydroponics cultivation and greenhouse management
• Plants pathology (Pests and diseases) and Agro-chemicals use.
• Integrated Pest Management
• Windows excel and access
• Large labor force management
• Logistics and exports

Critical Skills:

• Supervisory / management skills
• Organizational skills to guide the supervisors and large crowd of labor
• Communication skills
• Strong analytical skills, action oriented, quick learner
• Crop management, crop husbandry (what we call “green fingers” skills).
• Able to anticipate
• Agility

Critical Experience:

• 5 years of growing flower crops in a greenhouse setting especially Pelargonium and/ Bedding plants.
• Supervision and training
• Disease and pest identification and management.
• Farm production planning and execution in a developing country
• Data entry and analysis.

Critical Success Factors and Key Challenges

• Proper labor organization, training and supervision
• Pest and disease Scouting with the respective sound crop protection program
• Crop management (feeding, shaping, growth regulators)
• Water management-consistent fertilization.
• Harvesting of cuttings with an integrated quality control
• Logistics and distribution management.